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A conversation about the future of work with Katie Burke

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By Anna Auerbach From LinkedIn HubSpot was one of Werk’s earliest supporters, which put me in the orbit of Chief People Officer Katie Burke, who recently joined me the first installment of “Looking Forward.” She shares my passion for flexibility solutions—even the kinds that don't make headlines or annual reports. "Some of the most important work that we do is not measured in revenue but in the trips that aren't taken, in the hours and minutes that people get to spend at home with their loved ones, and in the trust that we build when we create space for people to have those types of connections with their families or with their lives or with things that matter most," she told me. Millennials get a bad rap for demanding a lot of flexibility, but I think the reality is they just demanded what everyone in the workforce actually wants. Gen Z, millennials, Baby Boomers—I actually think everyone wants flexibility at work. And so I think we'll continue to see

How 'service with a smile' can lead to problem drinking

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By Caitlin Mullen From BizJournals [Researchers'] findings? Heavier drinking after work is more likely for those who routinely fake smiles, seem happier than they are or suppress the urge to roll their eyes — called “surface acting” — while on the job. It’s more than job stress that leads people to drink, researchers found. The more workers had to maintain control over negative emotions at work — suppressing their actual emotions in front of customers or the public — the less able they were to control their alcohol intake at the end of the day. In other words, they’ve exhausted self-control by the time they’re done with work. It was most apparent in impulsive people whose jobs involve one-time service encounters with customers — like coffee shop baristas or call center employees — rather than workers like nurses or teachers, who build relationships with patients or students, the study, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, discovered.

How to Navigate Gaslighting at Work

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By Melody Wilding From Medium.com The power games started subtly. Emily’s co-worker frequently withheld key information about their shared clients and projects. When confronted, her colleague asserted that he’d sent her the reports. But each time Emily double (and triple) checked her inbox, she came up empty. Emily found herself constantly apologizing to upper management. She feared being perceived as disorganized. She felt as if she was going crazy. "You need to get it together," her colleague would say, followed by, “And get your emotions under control. You're making us all look bad.” When Emily pushed back, her colleague told her to stop being so sensitive. The denials, lies, and passive-aggressive manipulation mounted. Soon, Emily lost all confidence in herself. Emily was experiencing gaslighting, a form of psychological abuse that causes a person to question their self-worth and sanity. The term comes from the 1930s play Gas Light. In it, a husband tries to st

Grief At Work: A Guide For Employees and Managers

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From the American Hospice Foundation : Although we try to establish healthy boundaries between our work and personal lives, we know the importance of jobs and co-workers. For many, work provides a sense of community. For some, it even feels like family. Employees often derive their sense of well-being from their work. Every workplace must deal with complex emotional issues. The more difficult emotions, like grief, can disturb workers and diminish the work environment. Colleagues want to do the right thing, but don't know how to do it. Meanwhile, managers and employees may feel pressured and anxious, knowing the work still must get done. It's no wonder we need helping in working through grief.

Why you're not making friends at work

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From the Harvard Business Review : Connecting with others is at the heart of human nature. Recent research emphasizes that the power of connections can help us be creative, resilient, even live longer. But we can easily overlook the importance of these bonds. As popular writer and researcher Adam Grant has noted, the pressure of tight deadlines and the pace of technology mean that fewer Americans are finding friendship in the workplace. In fact, many of us are further disconnecting from the people we work with: we’re more stressed out than ever, and half of us regularly experience incivility in our jobs. How can we create possibilities for connection in what is sometimes a hostile atmosphere? We believe there needs to be more compassion. We define compassion as a 4-part experience of noticing someone’s distress or pain, interpreting it as relevant and important, feeling concern for that person or group, and acting to alleviate their pain. Acts of compassion can span from grand

5 Signs That a Company Will Be a Great Place to Work

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From Glass Door : Oftentimes, it’s easier to identify a bad company to work for than a good one. Red flags like a pattern of not-so-great Glassdoor reviews, rude interviewers, and a high turnover rate stick out like sore thumbs, indicating that you might want to steer clear. But what happens if a company doesn’t exhibit any of these common warning signs? Does that mean you’ll enjoy working there? Fortunately, you don’t have to go into the decision-making process blind. In addition to the glimpse into a company’s culture that Glassdoor reviews, salaries, and interviews provide, there are a number of factors you can look out for during the interview process that will hint at whether or not you’ll enjoy working at a company. We reached out to a handful of career experts to get their thoughts on what makes a great place to work — here are a few of the top signs that you’ve picked a winner.

4 Tips I Used to Find the Perfect Work/Life Balance

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From:  Impact Over the past several weeks, I've been really thinking about  balancing work and life . As one of IMPACT's Marketing Strategists, I'm often juggling 100 different things for clients any given week -- and as a mom of three under the age of 10, I'm juggling  a million  personal objectives and tasks on top of that. Balancing work and life, with or without kids, is probably the most challenging thing to figure out for anyone. Whether you are in marketing, a CEO, or heading off to college for the first time, we all deal with it daily, and honestly, I still don't know how the heck I do it.   But, the point of any blog from IMPACT is to provide value and help. Despite knowing I will spend the rest of my career fine-tuning my work/life balance, I'll let you know what works for me and for others I have spoken to over the last several weeks, and hopefully you'll be inspired to find your perfect work/life balance too. 

4,836 fatal work injuries in the United States during 2015

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From the Bureau of Labor Statistics A total of 4,836 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2015, a slight increase from the 4,821 fatal injuries reported in 2014. There were 2,054 fatal work injuries involving transportation incidents, an increase from the previous year. Within the transportation category, roadway incidents increased in 2015. Roadway incidents accounted for 26 percent of all fatal work injuries. Almost half of these fatalities involved some kind of tractor-trailer truck. Fatal injuries involving pedestrians were lower in 2015, as were rail and water vehicle incidents. There were 800 work fatalities due to falls, slips or trips in 2015. Falls to a lower level accounted for 81 percent of all fatal falls.

"I'll Be Online Later"; "Please don't"

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From LinkedIn "I'll be online later," you say, grabbing your laptop as you head out the door. "Please don't," say a growing number of CEOs who are radically rethinking the modern workday. Prompted by Millennials who value work-life balance, an increasingly global workforce spanning time zones, and devices that allow us to connect anywhere, anytime, these CEOs recognize the value of redesigning business to accommodate life, and not the other way around... In a world that is always on, when does work stop? In one corner is the argument for flexible hours, the darling of the tech set. When executed well, this approach allows staff to work when they work best while navigating life events that don’t naturally fall before 9 a.m. or 6 p.m. However, probe a bit further and many employees admit that flexible hours often mean "always working," with little or no ability to shut off. In the other corner is the 9-to-5 (or 6...or 7...) model, which can

Freelancers in the U.S. workforce

We’re entering a new era. For much of the past century, the 9-to-5 job has defined what most Americans think of as “work.” But that is changing—fast. More than 53 million Americans are now earning income from work that’s not a traditional 9-to-5. That’s 1 in 3 workers. We are still at the leading edge of a once-in-a-century upheaval in our workforce. The freelance surge is the Industrial Revolution of our time. More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Most Americans are moving farther away from their work

Proximity to employment can influence a range of economic and social outcomes, from local fiscal health to the employment prospects of residents, particularly low-income and minority workers. An analysis of private-sector employment and demographic data at the census tract level reveals that: *Between 2000 and 2012, the number of jobs within the typical commute distance for residents in a major metro area fell by 7 percent. Of the nation’s 96 largest metro areas, in only 29---many in the South and West, including McAllen, Texas, Bakersfield, Calif., Raleigh, N.C., and Baton Rouge, La.---did the number of jobs within a typical commute distance for the average resident increase. Each of these 29 metro areas also experienced net job gains between 2000 and 2012. *As employment suburbanized, the number of jobs near both the typical city and suburban resident fell. Suburban residents saw the number of jobs within a typical commute distance drop by 7 percent, more than twice the decline e